Dennis Graham comes from a family of American-music royalty. In his younger years, he played drums for "The Killer,"
Jerry Lee Lewis.
Drake has
often talked about his uncle, legendary funk bassist Larry Graham. (Nardwuar brought a couple of Larry's old records as a gift when
he interviewed Drake.) In a 2011 interview with 98.7 KISS FM's
Lenny Green, Larry confirmed that although he hasn't met Drake, he does believe the rapper is his nephew. Formerly a member of Sly and the Family Stone, Larry Graham is the frontman of funk band Graham Central Station. In 1998 he released
GCS 2000, a collaborative album with Prince. In recent years he has toured with Prince as an opening act and has performed as recently as June during Bonarroo 2013.
Mabon "Teenie" Hodges helped write 12 of Al Green's million-selling singles in the early '70s, including
"Love & Happiness" and
"Take Me To The River." In the interview with Nardwuar,
Drake talks about his Uncle Teenie as well as Green's longtime producer, "Uncle Willie" Mitchell, who ran the famed Royal Studios in Memphis—which is featured in the "Worst Behavior" video. If you watch the opening scenes closely, that's Teenie playing guitar while Dennis sings.
Your dad probably played records made by Dennis Graham's people when he was trying to get your mom to kiss him after their third date.
